Futuristic Trends in Publishing

eBooks may outsell the traditional paper books within the next 5 years.

The publishing industry is rapidly changing from the traditional hard copy format to electronic books (eBooks) that can be downloaded wirelessly to hand-held computers at half the cost than those being sold in book stores. Bookstores as we know them now will gradually transform into digital outlets, selling eBooks and Print on Demand (POD) versions or simply go out of business.
This transition is being pushed on two critical fronts: “traditional” publishing companies who cater mainly to established authors will be forced to share the market place with visionary hi-tech competitors such as Lightning Source; and book stores stocked with hard copy products will gradually lose their market share to web-based companies such as Amazon.ca, e-books.com and diesel-ebook.com.
Lightning Source was formed in 1997 with the advent of print on demand technology. As a member of the Ingram family of companies, they draw from the strength, experience and global relationships of their parent company. They have taken the print on demand technology and refined it into a finely tuned print and distribution model which is revolutionizing the publishing business by uniting the world of publishers and consumers into an interactive community where even the most obscure titles can be accessed as easily as a current best-seller.
Publishing companies of any size can benefit from the Lightning Source POD model by eliminating the guess work in ordering, reducing the cost of warehousing, eliminating the need for keeping an inventory of books and pulping (print only what is needed). In addition, new titles can be uploaded as PDF files and made available to customers at half the cost of their POD counterpart through secure downloads. But the most significant benefit that the Lightning Source infrastructure offers is connectivity to a highly comprehensive distribution channel of book wholesalers and retailers at low cost and minimal risks. Using Ingram’s distribution channel a new title always appears as in stock and available to over 30,000 wholesalers, retailers and booksellers in over 100 countries.
During the transition period, print on demand versions will dominate the marketplace. However, as readers get more familiar with a new breed of technology such as hand held computers optimized for eBooks, the momentum will shift from hard copy paper books to digital alternatives. Integrated hardware and software platforms are being introduced into the market place by several international companies. For example, Amazon.com released in November 2007 for the US market a software and hardware platform called Amazon Kindle for reading eBooks and other digital media. Three hardware devices, known as "Kindle", "Kindle 2," and "Kindle DX" support this platform, as does an iPhone application called "Kindle for iPhone. Another technology that handles eBooks is BeBook which has been released recently into the market by a company from Holland (Endless Ideas BV). This technology facilitates reading any pdf*, mobi, lit*, epub*, html, txt, prc, fb2, jpg file and over 300,000 of free news feeds from BeBook, including Mobipocket Digital Rights Management support. BeBook offers unique paper-like display and long life battery (one charge will last 7.000 page turns).
In addition to the two devices listed above, over 20 such units have entered the market during the past 2 years. Further information on these devices is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers Pricing is between $200 and $500 but will be reduced as competitors move aggressively to control the market. The time has come that we can carry all the books we own in a small hand held device, as well as can download over 300,000 books for less than $10 each from anywhere with wireless connectivity.